Impact of modern Science and Technology on the attitudes, lifestyles, social structures and economic well being of the people in the rural areas in India.

Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, while addressing the Indian
Science Congress in 1947 had stated “for a hungry man or hungry woman truth
has little meaning, he wants food, we have to find food for them clothing,
housing, education and so on; all the absolute necessities of life that every
human being should possess. So science must think in terms of the future
hundred million persons in India” Keeping in mind this prime need
for development and application of science in the country, under his dynamic
leadership, and through his vision, the country has witnessed spectacular
advances in many fields of science.

Science
and Technology have the capacity to significantly empower people and facilitate
development. Their applications to agriculture and rural
development are very extensive and
pervasive.

IMPACT ON ATTITUDE:

Science and
Technology have developed in rural communities a learning and innovation capacitythat
increases the effectiveness of their efforts tosolve problems and improve their
lives

They empower these communities and increase
the effectiveness of their development efforts through informed decision making
to achieve the objectives of poverty eradication, food security and sustainable
development in rural areas.

Rural people are getting into the mainstream
of Indian economy with the advancement of science and technology and providing a tuft competition to the urban
youth. They get a feeling of pride and enrichmentthat they are at par with the
urban crowd in terms of knowledge and education andareequally
fit to compete at national and international level.

IMPACT ON LIFESTYLES:

Improving the living standards of rural population

Increasing productivity
in rural areas by way of
scientific agricultural practices and reducing poverty;

Involving people
in planning and development through their participation in decision making and
through decentralization of administration;

Ensuring distributive
justice and equalization of opportunities in the society.

IMPACT ON SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND ECONOMIC WELL BEING:

Science and Technology is an important tool in developmental activities to address the problems of rural development in all sectors of the economy, such as, agriculture, energy, health and sanitation, rural engineering, housing and habitat.

Transforming the entire rural economy and reducing different social barriers of caste and community when people from all sections come together and work towards a common goal of increased productivity with optimum utilization of resources.

Farmers with better livelihood in terms of increased output and revenue are contributing to individual wellbeing as well as society’s well being in the long run.

Women are coming forward and taking an active participation in agriculture, forestry as they are effective disseminators and communicators for agricultural and health-delivery systems

Agriculture scientists have worked hard to improve the conditions of farming and farmers in the country .A number of programmes had been launched for the welfare of the farmers which resulted in positive changes in the lives of farmers.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana: Has been launched to provide relief to the farmers due to poor monsoon. Under this scheme emphasis are being put on “water to each and every farm” that is to say to provide facilities of irrigation to each and every farmer along with enhancement of water conservation skill.

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yoaja: To promote bio-farming in the country. According to the scheme, the farmers are being encouraged to adopt bio-farming by making clusters in the country. To be benefited from this scheme at least a cluster of 50 farmers is required along with an area of land with 50 acre. Under this scheme, every farmer will be provided Rs. 20,000/- per acre for the span of three year. Farmers will utilize this amount for the purchase of bio-seeds, harvesting and to transport the agricultural products to the local market.

Soil Health Card Scheme: Government has initiated Soil Health Card scheme to provide farmers Soil Health Card in a mission mode. This card will contain the knowhow of the new trend in the soil and accordingly the required quantity of fertilizers. Through that farmers will be capable enough to obtain more products on their farms. The farmers will know the fertility of their fields. The expert will sort out the problem concerned with soil. Though this card the farmers will monitor the change of quality related to the soil after prolong use of the farms in agriculture process and they will benefit from the soil card to maintain the health of the soil.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna: Government of India has launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna to provide relief to the farmers inflicted with the loss of crop damage. This is truly a farmer welfare scheme. This scheme provides assessment of local calamities along with a list on unseasonal rain form, land slide and floods. Under this scheme the farmers are supposed to pay 2% for Kharif and 1.5% for Rabi.. Rest of the premium will be deposited by the Government. The Government has not prescribed any extent for subsidy. The remaining premium is 90% that will be paid by the Government. Under this scheme, remote sensing, smart phone and drone use is mandatory for the expeditious assessment of the crop damage.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM): National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is all India electronic trading portal which aims at to form a unified national market for agricultural products by making a network for the markets related to the existing Agricultural Product Marketing Committee (APMC). The government made up its mind to develop a National Agriculture Market so as to transport the agricultural product from one market to another in a smooth way, to save the producers from a number of market duties and to provide agricultural product to the consumers on a fair price. The farmers will obtain more alternative to sell out their products. The transparency will be increased due to online platform and farmers will get better return.

India emergence campaign through village emergence: Government of India has launched a campaign named as India emergence through village emergence so as to improve the means of livelihood amongst the rural, to accelerate rural development process, to strengthen Panchayati Raj across the country, to establish social equality to create awareness about the agricultural schemes.

The convergence of different technologies has created not onlya new technological and production sector, but also a new social and economic reality in the rural sector. Rural sector is a very crucial sector of our development agenda and continuous government support in this direction is vital for all round development of our country.